Pick the Apple?

     I have to admit that Microsoft made me take a bite of the Apple.  I've used Windows operating systems from the start of computing days.  I went through every version of windows, throwing money down the Microsoft computing pit.  Each upgrade required more memory, a faster processor, new software.  The files  the programs used changed each time too and most were not backwards compatible.  And, the viruses...  The system was always full of holes and needed one security update after another.  You had to keep the hardware drivers up to date as well, a never ending process.  One simple incompatibility from one program or driver to another and the system crashed.  It was crazy!  Think of the time lost just trying to figure out what went wrong and where are those backups?
  
     I stuck with them through XP and finally gave up.  My hardware was old(not much but enough) and it was just not worth it any more.  There had to be something better.  My son encouraged me to try Ubuntu, a free version of linux.  So I did, and it worked on my old hardware and it was fast!  Faster than Windows!  I admit, there was a little learning curve, but just surfing the net and using simple programs wasn't different from my old system.  From there, I tried Suse Linux.  It was a little easier to use but still wasn't what I wanted.

     Around that time, Anna needed a Mac laptop for school.  We got her one from the Apple Store at the Summit and fell in love with it.  Now, I have a Mac too, with EyeTV.  We can watch the local Television stations on it and the picture is just as good as our Sony in the living room.  I've yet to get a virus, updates are rare, and it seems to do everything I need.

     Now, the bad part.  I read recently about Apple's factory.  It's in Shenzhen, China and is owned by Taiwanese company Foxconn.  Foxconn employees 800,000 workers worldwide, all mostly in China.  Employees work up to 12 hours/day, six days a week.  They have forced overtime and according to one source, "can only leave when the boss gives permission".  Over the past year, 10 workers have committed suicide and there have been other attempts.  For all their hours, they're paid from 50 to 100 dollars per month.  They live onsite so social activities are limited.  It just doesn't sound like a nice place to live and work.  If we don't do something now, that may be the American factory look in fifty years!

     I guess that's why so many of our jobs have gone overseas.  Corporations can practically have slaves.  Labor costs plummet so profits soar.  Humanity is sacrificed for cash!  American companies are jealous of dirt cheap labor.  They resent their own labor force-the working people that built their business, while the execs played on the golf corse or in the boardroom.  Employees are not just a "human resource".  They're made in the image of God and corporations will answer for how they've treated them!

     James 5:4 says, "Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts."
I didn't even get to the Bible verses about greed!  So, what to do?  Pray for overseas workers and the American corporations that employ them.  And maybe, if you see a "made in China" sticker, put it back on the shelf.